Chapter 59: The Shadow of the Void (Patreon)

He didn't know how much time had passed.

When the scar-faced ninja regained consciousness, the sharp pain in his wrist twisted his face into a grimace. He saw the four figures standing before him and reality came rushing back.

"Damn it! You're not Amegakure shinobi!"

By now, he was fully lucid. He lifted his head from the floor and roared, "Whoever you are, release me now! The patrols will be here soon!"

He was trussed up tightly, wriggling and struggling like a worm. But all his efforts were futile; his voice couldn't reach beyond the walls. 'Damn it! How long has it been? Why hasn't anyone come to save me?'

The commotion at the tavern had been immense. So many people had witnessed it. Could it be that no one reported it or raised the alarm?

"Stop yelling."

Hatake Kakashi dug a finger in his ear, his single visible eye fixed on the prisoner. He offered a very "kind" explanation. "We walked out openly. The tavern owner personally saw us off. So, no one is coming to save you."

Even Kakashi couldn't help but smile as he said this, finding the absurdity of the situation almost laughable. Yamato, who usually wore an expressionless mask, looked oddly at the silent Hyūga Kumokawa.

"...What?" The scar-faced ninja's face went slack. "Are they insane? Not informing the patrols, just watching you take me away?"

Kakashi couldn't be bothered to explain further. "Just talk. Tell us all the intelligence you know."

"Never!" the ninja snarled. "I won't betray—"

"Let me."

Before he could finish, Hyūga Kumokawa suddenly stepped forward, smiling gently. "Don't worry. I'll crush your bones bit by bit, just like before, until you tell us the answers we want to hear."

Hearing this, Kakashi and the other two exchanged glances, looking at the scar-faced ninja with genuine pity. Then, unanimously, they stepped outside, leaving the two alone. Seeing Kumokawa's smile, the prisoner shuddered, his face turning ashen as he tried to shrink back.

"You... stay away... you... Aah!!"

A short while later, the three waiting outside heard the piercing screams and wails gradually subside, fading into a terrifying silence.

Click.

Hyūga Kumokawa walked out of the abandoned house. Facing the inquiring gazes of Kakashi and the others, he simply nodded. "Drained dry."

The interrogation had gone smoothly. Under Kumokawa's methods, the scar-faced ninja spilled everything about Amegakure and Hanzō's current situation—the village's regular personnel, standard weapon counts, and defensive layouts. Everything poured out like beans from a bamboo tube. By the end, he was even confessing childhood transgressions. If Kumokawa hadn't finally stopped him, the man would likely have continued until he ran out of breath.

Hatake Kakashi pushed the door open to look. He saw the prisoner, whose bones were almost completely shattered, reduced to a shapeless, broken mess. His expression didn't change. Shinobi were never paragons of virtue, and the Anbu was far from a humanitarian organization. He simply performed a hand seal and set the remains ablaze with a Fire Release technique.

"Now we can confirm Amegakure has indeed undergone the changes we suspected. Hanzō's personality has drastically shifted, and the root cause is that organization called 'Akatsuki.'"

Kakashi summarized the intelligence, immediately grasping the key point. The Akatsuki organization. Unfortunately, those in the know kept tight-lipped, and Hanzō himself was extremely secretive. Consequently, the scar-faced ninja hadn't known much beyond rumors.

"Wasn't the mission's focus to investigate Hanzō and Amegakure's remaining strength?" Yamato asked.

"Correct," Hatake Kakashi said calmly. "But the premise is that the only threats within the Land of Rain are Hanzō and Amegakure."

The mission's essence wasn't just to probe Hanzō's strength, but to determine how much of a threat the Land of Rain still posed to Konoha. As the war situation escalated, Sunagakure and Iwagakure were likely to intervene. When that happened, the Land of Rain would be the shortest route for the two Great Villages to attack the Land of Fire. Konoha had to figure out the Land of Rain's current state before anyone else.

Intelligence was the most crucial weapon for a shinobi. In the ninja world, there was never an ironclad rule that a lower rank couldn't defeat a higher one. As long as one gathered enough intelligence and tailored a strategy to exploit an enemy's weaknesses, even a Genin could kill a Jōnin.

"So, Kakashi-senpai believes the Akatsuki organization might pose an obstacle to Konoha's future war strategy?" Hyūga Kumokawa asked.

Seeing Kakashi nod, the other shinobi frowned. "But it's just an organization being chased down by Amegakure, with only a few remaining stragglers. Is it worth such attention?"

"I think Kakashi-senpai's judgment is correct." Before Kakashi could explain, Kumokawa spoke up with a smile. "Hanzō's reputation was earned genuinely, forged on the battlefield. Even if he has truly aged, he shouldn't have become so timid. Being able to push that Hanzō to such a state of fear shows this so-called 'Akatsuki' is anything but simple."

Hearing this, Yamato and the other Konoha shinobi pondered the words, inwardly agreeing with the assessment.

"So, what do we do next?" Yamato asked.

Hatake Kakashi thought for a moment, then slowly said, "Given Hanzō's current temperament and situation, his attitude towards Konoha might not be as hostile as before. We could try talking to him. While gathering intel on Akatsuki, we could offer to help him deal with this trouble and propose forming an alliance. That way, the Land of Rain might become a barrier helping Konoha fend off Suna and Iwa in the future."

He paused, then added, "Of course, that's only if the Third Hokage agrees. We cannot act on our own."

Hyūga Kumokawa nodded in agreement. But at that moment, his gaze suddenly stilled. He felt a sensation through his chakra. The seal on the scroll he'd let Orochimaru take had been triggered. That meant Orochimaru had met the conditions to break the seal and could finally see the subsequent contents.

'Finally developed the 'Living Corpse Reincarnation,' has he?'

Kumokawa's eyes gleamed slightly. He smiled inwardly. 'I've been waiting a long time, Orochimaru-sama. Don't disappoint me.'

He had left some interesting content at the end of that scroll—a lie disguised as a fundamental "rule." Kumokawa was no longer limiting himself to materializing techniques; he wanted to try implanting a new truth into the shinobi world.

....

Meanwhile, at a hidden laboratory base near the border of the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain...

Orochimaru's pale face looked especially sinister under the lamplight, but the madness and fervor in his eyes burned even brighter.

"Finally... finally complete! Fushi Tensei! I—"

Hiss!

Before he could finish, a serpentine tongue suddenly flicked from his mouth. His voice transformed into a woman's, mocking him. "Useless Orochimaru. So what if you developed a technique to change bodies? Can you bear to give up this body capable of using Senjutsu? The more you gained from Ryūchi Cave, the more you must repay. Hiss... You'll never escape it in this lifetime..."

"Shut up!" Orochimaru's voice changed again, his expression turning resentful. "Tagorihime! Sooner or later, I'll devour your body and soul clean!"

With that, he turned and walked towards the scroll on the table. No, not "walked." It was more like a slither. Orochimaru had lost his legs, replaced by a white serpent's tail. On that day, to survive, he had made a deal with the White Snake Sage. This was the price: merging with the body of Tagorihime, one of the three Great Snake Princesses of Ryūchi Cave, gaining the ability to use Senjutsu, yet forever unable to escape the control of the cave.

However, to him, it was all worth it.

Hiss.

Orochimaru instinctively flicked out his tongue, his gaze fervent as he looked at the scroll in his hand. The previously inaccessible content could now be unrolled with a gentle tug.

"So, only by mastering soul and natural energy can the seal on the latter part of the scroll be broken."

Orochimaru's eyes grew even more intense. He eagerly scanned the subsequent text, but his gaze froze upon reading the first lines.

"When all beings perish, their paths diverge. Upon bodily death and the soul's departure, some scatter to the winds, some return to the Jōdo of the Rikudō, and some fall into My Void Realm."

"The Void Realm is a destination for souls, its domain suspended in the rift between the present world and the Jōdo, eternally cloaked in endless night..."